In message , Stephen Howard
writes
On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:09:11 +0100, The Wanderer
wrote:

Les Paul died yesterday. Where would modern music be without his
inventions?

Same place, courtesy of Rickenbacker.

One could argue the case for Paul Bigsby who built a guitar to Merle
Travis' sketch, leading to Fender which triggered Gibson to build the
Les Paul, and indeed Travis himself with early multitracking
(unnecessary in his case) and the first pop videos.
The '40's and '50's had some very inventive people.
--
Bill